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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Little Rock, Arkansas » Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #195550

Title: RICE PROTEIN ISOLATES (RPI) INHIBIT THE ONSET OF ATHEROGENESIS IN A GENETICALLY PRE-DISPOSED HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIC MOUSE MODEL

Author
item NAGARAJAN, SHANMUGAM - ACNC/UAMS
item STEWART, BRAD - ACNC
item FERGUSON, MATTHEW - ACNC
item BADGER, THOMAS - ACNC/UAMS

Submitted to: Journal of Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2006
Publication Date: 3/27/2006
Citation: Nagarajan, S., Stewart, B.W., Ferguson, M.E., Badger, T.M. 2006. Rice protein isolates (RPI) inhibit the onset of atherogenesis in a genetically pre-disposed hypercholesterolemic mouse model [abstract]. The FASEB Journal. 20(4):A1000.

Interpretive Summary: Consumption of proper nutrition can prevent chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. A heart attack caused by thickening of the arteries is also known as atherosclerosis. Asians have a lower rate of heart disease than the Westerners. Rice is one of the main foods in the Asian population. Therefore, the decreased rate of heart disease may be due to their dietary consumption of rice. In this study we examined the effect of eating rice on reducing atherosclerosis. This was tested using a mouse model. Consumption of rice reduced the size of atherosclerotic lesions in the arteries. Our findings suggest that consuming rice diets decrease the start of heart disease. Future studies will search for how eating rice is working to prevent atherosclerosis in developing animals.

Technical Abstract: Epidemiological studies strongly suggest that diet plays a crucial role in the prevention of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. For example, the reduced CVD incidence in the Asian population has been attributed to their dietary consumption of rice and soy. Rice protein isolates (RPI) have been shown to reduce cholesterol levels in clinical studies. Based on these reports, we hypothesize that RPI have anti-atherosclerotic properties in preventing the onset of atherosclerosis. This hypothesis was addressed using the genetically predisposed apoE knockout (apo E-/-) mouse model. Female apoE-/- mice (4-wk old, 20/group) were fed AIN-93G diets formulated with casein (CAS) or RPI as their sole protein source for 10 weeks (14-wk old). Growth rate, food intake, metabolic energy expenditure, and total activity of RPI-fed animals were not significantly different compared to the CAS-fed control groups. Plasma total cholesterol levels prior to the start of the diet were 242±42 mg/dL (n=20) and did not differ significantly after 70 days of feeding RPI diet. Plasma oxLDL levels were not statistically different (n=6, p=0.2) between the RPI-fed and CAS-fed groups. On the contrary, the anti-oxLDL antibody response was significantly (n= 12, p<0.001) decreased in RPI-fed compared to CAS-fed animals. Interestingly, despite not lowering cholesterol or oxLDL levels, RPI suppressed the size of atherosclerotic lesions in the descending aorta (n= 7, p<0.001). In conclusion, the findings from this report suggest that consumption of rice-based diets decreases the onset of atherosclerosis in this genetically predisposed hypercholesterolemia mouse model by mechanisms other than the lowering of serum lipids or oxLDL levels, possibly though such as cell adhesion and/or cell migration.